"GMO’s 7nm ASIC ChipsThe design logic of the 7nm chip has already been completed, Kumagai said. “The overwhelming competitive advantage is confirmed,” he added. “Next-generation semiconductors, which are under development based on an exclusive agreement with partners, are expected to operate with about 56% of the power of comparable performance, and the test version is expected to be completed in 2018,” Techwave conveyed. Mass production of the 7nm chips will begin in May of next year."

Went from 1st Q 2018 to May of 2019. On the GMO mining website when they get down into giberish about new chips they say they plan to start R&D and based on the result start consumer production. To me its like announcing Im gona start selling a 50TH miner that you wear on your wrist like a watch, it runs off body heat and a tiny tank that you must keep topped off with 3 drops of fresh warm urine. 10 billion dollars per half hour! I just need ya'll to buy my token, whos with me?

The chips that are used for mining are not as complex as what would be used in a phone or for multitasking. An ASICs chip is single very fast processing, not a lot of swapping with memory and multiple threads. It may be easier due to the lack of complexity.

While ASIC chips might be "simpler" in basic design than smartphone chips, the are a LOT higher power density and push the limits of the process JUST as hard if not harder. They also aren't noticeably lower DENSITY if at all - which actually pushes the power density harder 'cause there is less "not in use right this second" circuitry using up chip space.

I can't read that article that was posted because of the bloody "pop-up that covers the entire page AND WON'T GIVE YOU A TURN IT OFF OPTION.

I hate web sites that DO that sort of garbage, even when you CAN turn the irritation garbage off.

Which is a long EXPEN$IVE way away from having working engineering samples to prove working silicon, much less PRODUCTION silicon.

Do I expect someone (probably more than one someone) to come out with an S9 beater on the 7/10 nm node? YES. Do I expect it in 2018? Not only "NO" but "PRETTY MUCH DEFINITELY HELL NO". Do I expect it in 2019 sometime? Probably.

Samsung appears to be in production (in small "trial proof of technology" mode) on their 10nm node, so I expect their next smartphone design will probably use a 10nm chip. Intel has already announced production of 10nm CPUs for later this year - they HAVE been working on that longer than pretty much anyone else, so it's not a shock if they get to market first.

GF and TSMC "7nm" looks to be hitting small scale engineering proof production levels late this year, and probably won't hit full production levels for months to a year after that.

Also expect YIELDS to be very poor for the first year at least, based on experience with the LAST TWO production nodes.

Then we get to start thinking about the issue with the "next node" and both Intel and IBM stating the CURRENT node is "end of the road for pure silicon"....

it is more power effecient than the leading bitmain s9 antminer today if we need to a 16 tera hash it will only need 600 watts of power compare to a 1 kilowatt s9 miners. but the only problem is the sale is thru token or ICO sale. so this project is not for everyone as Japanese ICO regulation means stricter customer KYC requirements.

Bitcoin.com? I was goint to read it but stench of that website stopped me cold in the middle of mouse clickn

Cutting-edge 7 nm process technology for chips will be used in the mining process, and GMO Internet will continue to work on research and development, using the next-generation mining boards in the mining process in the first half of 2018.

Still just pie-in-the-sky PR to raise monies via their token sales.Some recent insight re: 10nm and lower nodes. Pay attention to the parts about the cost and number of masks/steps needed when using non-EUV light sources.

*can* 7nm be done without EUV? A very cautious 'yes' if cost and production rates are no object but it will NOT be happening in this year before Q4. Otherwise 2019 is still a very safe guesstimate before any production-ready processes are starting up assuming the remaining hurdles to the EUV sources can be solved.

Still just pie-in-the-sky PR to raise monies via their token sales.Some recent insight re: 10nm and lower nodes. Pay attention to the parts about the cost and number of masks/steps needed when using non-EUV light sources.

*can* 7nm be done without EUV? A very cautious 'yes' if cost and production rates are no object but it will NOT be happening in this year before Q4. Otherwise 2019 is still a very safe guesstimate before any production-ready processes are starting up assuming the remaining hurdles to the EUV sources can be solved.

Thanks for sharing the link as it is a very informative presentation. There may be a situation whereby Bitmain can release 10nm before going to 7nm. It may not be a significant leap but it is an incremental improvement. If I were running Bitmain, I would release 10nm to sell more hardware. Let's the GMO and other competitors struggle and waste valuable resources on the 7nm technology. Once the 7nm technology is released, it will only be an incremental improvement from Bitmain's 10nm. After the competition completed their development, I would quickly copy it and release Bitmain's 7nm. I would flood the market with 7nm antminers at a lower price and take out my competitors before they can recoup their R&D cost.

Still just pie-in-the-sky PR to raise monies via their token sales.Some recent insight re: 10nm and lower nodes. Pay attention to the parts about the cost and number of masks/steps needed when using non-EUV light sources.

*can* 7nm be done without EUV? A very cautious 'yes' if cost and production rates are no object but it will NOT be happening in this year before Q4. Otherwise 2019 is still a very safe guesstimate before any production-ready processes are starting up assuming the remaining hurdles to the EUV sources can be solved.

The 7c looks like a good middle of road target for 2019. 5 EUV masks.

That may be why GMO is saying 1st test 7nm Miner in 2018 presumably before EUV introduction. Then full-scale production is moved over to 7c when production begins. Idk, there could be other reasons.

If GMO does meet their targets for this year then I doubt the just make one or two miners. Do you think prototype is code for we are building a large scale mining facility?